Chances Book 3
by Miryl
Summary: Find Book 1 here: /s/10351149/1/Chances-Book-1 Find Book 2 here: /s/10390466/1/Chances-Book-2 The journey of Aang and his friends continues. The timeline of book three changes a lot due to the changes in the end of book 2. I will still try to stay in characters. Rated M for mentioning of sexual violence, incest and other. No Details.
1. Intro (Same as book 1)

Just think... what if from a specific point in life some little detail would change. Instead of the left road you'd take the right. What would happen? Who would you be today?

(PS: As you may or may not have yet noticed, I'm trying to stick to the original story-arc as far as it suits the circumstances. Therefor you will find direct quotes from the original series. I do not Point them out in the text, to Keep reading fluid. I am not owning the characters, nor the world, nor do I Claim to. I write this only for my and my reader's amusement. Direct quotes of the series are only used for keeping as Close to the original story-line and character-developement as possible. Therefor: Have fun reading and enjoy!)


	2. Chapter 1

It took some more healing-sessions until Zuko was able to get up and walk again. Though he started to do so as soon as he managed, much to the dislike of uncle Iroh and Katara. He hadn't seen Sokka and Aang, since they had liberated the ship. The others had at least peeked in on him now and then. So he decided it was time he asked Sokka about their next plans. Since Sokka was "plan-guy" it was only logical to ask him. But Sokka's only plan was to sneak into Firenation for now. Zuko therefor gave him the map he had gotten from Lu Ten who had found it on the ship. "I won't recommend Roku's island, or the capital." Zuko pointed out. "The capital is full of Firebenders and Roku's island… well, you saw it…"

"What would you recommend then?" Sokka asked, looking over the map with stern expression on his face. "The outskirts, for there is plenty of land to hide in, or Ember island…" Zuko answered "My family used to stay there during summer a long time ago. The house should still be there…" "You suggest we hide in the Firelord's summer-home…" Sokka asked. "Uh, well, Lu Ten kind of did…" Zuko shrugged "Point is, no one ever would look for us there… And we really doubt anyone would visit it." "Your cousin brought Azula into your uncle's house…" Sokka pointed out "I wouldn't trust him, if I were you." Zuko shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I told you what I would suggest. Decision's up to you." "Great…" Sokka sighed "Thank you."

Then Zuko went on to find Aang, who was practising coal-bending with Toph in the engine-room. "Sparky, it's painful just to see you…" Toph stated, as he found them "How do you even know where you're going?" "My eyes function…" Zuko pointed out. "Still…" Toph shrugged. "Shouldn't you rest?" Aang asked "Katara said…" "Yeah, I know…" Zuko sighed "I just wanted to know how you are planning on ending the war…" "Uh, well, we will see, right?" Aang smiled and shrugged his shoulders "One can't foretell, right?" "I would suggest smashing the Firelord's skull in with a bolder." Toph put in "Or maybe freeze him and then kick his head off or something like that." "Uh… I'm pretty sure I won't do that…" Aang huffed "Listen, I will find a way in time, ok? Stop worrying." "Oh, I've got one!" Toph cried out "You can lift him 100 feet into the air and then drop him… That'll be fun." Aang turned pale and Zuko decided the next time he would ask, he would make sure, Toph wasn't around.


	3. Chapter 2

Wandering around tired Zuko quickly, so he spent most of his time sleeping. Whenever he was awake, he was walking around as long as he managed, or was dragged to another healing-session by Katara. Those mostly ended with them spending the rest of the day cuddling in his bed, much to Sokka's dislike, who found out about that, because Lu Ten had to tell around, which resulted in Iroh wanting to have a private talk with Zuko, Hakoda dragging Katara away for a private talk on their own, Aang vanishing for two days and Sokka trying to catch Zuko alone. Lu Ten on the other hand seemed to really enjoy the outcome of his bandying. Toph seemed not to understand the whole thing, for she only complained about having nothing to do, since Aang had locked himself into a room.

As Hakoda had pulled Katara from the room and uncle Iroh had shooed out Lu Ten and closed the door, Zuko knew he had to punish Lu Ten for his babbling somehow. "Zuko, listen… It's not that we don't like you and Katara being friends…" Iroh started, settling himself on the bed next to Zuko "In your age it's perfectly normal to get interested in girls and…" "Uncle, I had had school…" Zuko interrupted him. "Just listen…" Iroh put in "You are a royal. It might well be you will be crowned Firelord. It would be quite problematic if you'd get a girl pregnant before marrying her." Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes. "As far as I know she can't get pregnant from holding hands and kissing…" he huffed "Therefor… be unconcerned…"

Luckily he managed to convince his uncle that they were not having any kind of sexual intercourse a few minutes later, and Iroh left him alone. Katara returned, before Sokka could sneak his way in. "Argh! Parents!" she cried out, closing the door behind her with a bang. "They really thought we would… argh!" Zuko had to smile about her outburst. "And my stupid brother is sneaking around your room now…" Katara continued, before turning towards the door shouting: "I saw you, Sokka! Get lost!" "I saw him…" Zuko shrugged "He's just trying to protect you, I guess…" "I can protect myself, thank you very much!" Katara yelled at the door. "Help me make a plan to punish Lu Ten?" Zuko suggested "At least it is his fault they all know…"


	4. Chapter 3

As soon as Zuko's leg was healed enough for him to walk around without being in pain anymore, Iroh decided it was time for him to train his son and nephew. Therefor Zuko's and Katara's time together was cut really short, since Iroh would have Lu Ten and Zuko practice their firebending the whole day. In the evening, both of them were too exhausted to do anything else than going to bed. So Katara was preparing the revenge on Lu Ten on her own.

Lu Ten managed to use new learned moves far quicker than Zuko, and he also managed to create lightning, which Zuko simply couldn't. It would blow up in his face, whenever he tried. So Iroh taught him how to redirect lightning by using waterbending-techniques. He had invented the move himself, so no one else knew it, despite Iroh and now Lu Ten and Zuko. Though Iroh wouldn't allow them to test it and said he hoped they would never have to use it, for it could easily kill them, if they would make a wrong move. As he released them that day, both of them were far too interested in testing out their new move that they couldn't go to bed right then. But Iroh caught them in their attempt to test it on each other and got really angry at them. So they were sent to their rooms to meditate about what they have learned.

Of course Zuko's meditating was cut short by Katara's visit. "The plan is ready." She told him. "Tonight then?" Zuko asked back and Katara nodded. "By the way, my brother is still lurking around…" she added. "Yes, I know…" Zuko smiled "He is trying to figure out how he could sneak on me without being burned to a crisp." "Did you attack him?" Katara asked confused. "No, but he tried to sneak in on me last night, and I happened to hear him…" Zuko explained "I think he was kind of spooked by the fireball I had in my hand as soon as I heard him. At least he screamed and smashed the door shut behind him as he left…" "He's such an idiot, sometimes…" Katara sighed.

At midnight the two of them met again right outside of Lu Ten's room. They had both clad in black hoodies, making them hard to spot in the night-dark ship. Each of them carried a bucket with snapper-clams inside. Katara had collected them over the past few days from the ship's belly with waterbending them up on deck. She had kept them in buckets with fresh water, but still they were kind of smelly and slimy and they bit if one dared to put one's finger in there. "Ready?" she whispered. Zuko nodded. Carefully he opened the door to Lu Ten's room and the both of them snuck into it, carefully closing the door again behind them. Lu Ten was fast asleep. As soundlessly as possible, they put down the two buckets with snapper-clams next to his bed and snuck back to the door.

Once out of the room, Katara used her waterbending, to raise the clam-filled water out of the buckets, and hovered it over sleeping Lu Ten, before she released her grip on the clam-filled liquid. As soon as she had done so, she jumped back, Zuko slammed the door shut, and both of them started running towards their rooms. Lu Ten's cries of surprise and rage followed them through the dark hallways. It was not long until the noise had woken every last member of the crew. They had reached Zuko's room just in time and now leaned against the door gasping for air, listening to the tumult that had started outside.

Their plan had one fault though… No one expected Aang to do something like that to anyone, and despite of him there was only one waterbender on the ship left. So Katara was suspected as the culprit right away, and as they went looking for her, they found her with Zuko, so it was kind of obvious they had been in it together. No one was very happy about what they had done. They were dragged apart by Hakoda and Iroh and it was decided that they obviously were bad influence on each other. Therefor they weren't allowed to be in the same room together, with not at least one other person present. Both tried to protest, but were dragged to their rooms and sent to bed by their legal guardians.


	5. Chapter 4

The rest of their trip got busy for them. Toph was urging Aang to practice more, Hakoda tried to teach his son some fighting-skills, since Sokka obviously lacked some and Iroh trained his son and nephew in firebending. Katara was left to watch out for enemy-ships or other problems ahead.

Whenever they encountered a Firenavy-ship that got too interested in them, Iroh would send all children under deck and would greet them with Lu Ten and the water-nation-soldiers in disguise. He would reveal himself as Prince-General Iroh and would tell them that he was heading for the homeland. His story was that it had taken him ages until he would find a Firenavy-ship who wasn't too busy to bring him home. And the leaders of the other ships had no doubt in his story and left them alone. Some even tried to offer their support in guarding them, but Iroh explained that he was sure they had better things to do and that he was perfectly capable defending himself against peasant scum, if he would find some, so close to the homeland. They grinned, nodded and wished them save travels before they would retreat to their own ship and leave.

So they finally reached firenation-waters unharmed. Encounters were more frequently now, and so Iroh decided that the children were no longer allowed on deck. Also they were now more or less forced to go directly towards the havens, despite they knew the danger that was awaiting them there. Though surprisingly encounters stopped two days before they had reached their destination, and so Iroh decided it was time for a plan to escape. Luck was on their side once more, for the warm weather of upcoming summer brought a thunderstorm. Together with Hakoda, Iroh planned to sink the ship and make their disappearance once again. It was not an easy task to reach the land without a ship, but it was the only way to do so undetected.

They packed together their most needed things and stored them on Appa. And then they waited for the thunderstorm to strike. The nearest land was a small island, some hours on ship away from them. They planned it to be their first goal. Waiting in pouring rain was not pleasant. And knowing what path lied ahead of them was even worse. Appa was not able to carry all of them, so they would have to split. Part of them would be carried over to the island on Appa, as soon as the thunderstorm would hide their actions from possible by-passers. Then someone would return with Appa to get the rest, who would have to sink the ship and escape both more or less at the same time.

Sinking the ship was Katara's and Aang's task, of course. So they had to stay back. Toph and Sokka were sent with the first part, since Toph couldn't swim and she wouldn't let go of Sokka's arm. That left Zuko as the one who would know how to handle Appa, and therefor he was the one who would return to pick up the rest. Some of the Water-tribe-soldiers and Lu Ten went with them. "Be careful!" Iroh warned them, shouting, since the storm was gaining strength by the minute now. He hugged both his son and nephew and watched, as they climbed onto Appa together with the rest of the first party.

Appa reacted obediently to Zuko's leading, but it still wasn't easy to fly him. The storm would pull at their clothes and hair and the rain would soak not only all of them but also Appa, causing him to smell. Also the rain was falling so thick, it was hard to see anything. Water running down their faces and into their eyes didn't help either. Only the compass they had taken with them helped them find the island, but landing Appa was another task. The waves were dangerously high and the trees of the little island swung around in the strong wind. Finally Zuko spotted an area big enough to land Appa, and he managed despite the strong wind pulling on Appa from different directions. They unloaded Appa quickly and Zuko made Appa take off once more to head back to get the others.

This time a compass was of no use. The ship was a moveable target. He would have to fly low and have his eyes open. And since the wind was getting stronger by the minute and the rain tried to catch up with it, his task was even worse than the one landing on the island. Appa roared at a lightning-bolt and went on flying. He seemed to see more than Zuko did, for he suddenly went down and landed in the water, right next to their ship. Iroh made the rest of their team climb onto Appa's saddle and then ordered Aang and Katara to sink the ship, while he ordered Zuko to make Appa rise. The Sky-bison leaped out of the water and back into the air. Beneath them the bending of Aang and Katara caused the waves to go mad. They tipped the ship over with ease before the rain swallowed it all up and Appa carried them away through the storm.


	6. Chapter 5

The rain went on for hours, even after the storm had reduced itself to a wind. There was no use in trying to get dry. It wouldn't even last a second. They had tried to find shelter underneath the trees, but it was of little use. Katara and Aang were too tired to bend them a shelter. Causing gigantic waves to tip over ships obviously was no easy task. Zuko remembered those storms. As a kid he had stared out the windows, watching the rain build puddles in the grass and on the walkways and listening to the constant drumming on the roof until his mother had sent him to bed. His mother… He remembered that she had left them. She had left the night that his grandfather, Firelord Azulon, had passed away mysteriously. No one ever had told him why she had left. No one ever had mentioned her after that night ever again. Except for Azula, who would taunt him with their mother no longer being there to protect him from her constant acts of terror…

Back when he was a child, the sound of the rain on their roof would lull him into sleep. Now he could not even close his eyes. The constant dripping, his wet clothes and hair clinging to his skin and the cool night-air kept him awake. But except from Sokka, no one was able to sleep. Obviously Sokka could fall asleep everywhere. Even if it was in the middle of a dark forest, during pouring rain combined with cool winds. Zuko was sure that Sokka wouldn't be able to survive alone for even one day.

As the rain finally stopped it was way past midnight. Zuko used his firebending to dry himself up immediately, as did Iroh and Lu Ten. Aang and Katara did the same with their bending. Then the benders dried up all the non-benders as well as Appa and Momo. Sokka was still asleep. He didn't even awake, as Aang dry-blowed him with airbending. Zuko then dried the ground of their camping-spot up using firebending and let himself drop back to the now dry forest-floor. He simply felt exhausted. "The floor's really warm now…" Katara stated, placing her hands on the ground "Almost like a fur-covered bed at home…" Aang rolled himself together at the floor and started to purr like a kittenbird. Toph used her bending to bend herself a blanket out of the ground and went to sleep. "Sparky, I'll wake you, if I get cold again." She yawned.

They slept until late morning. A warm summer-sun stretched beams of light through the tree-tops and painted warm freckles on their faces. The thunderstorm of last night was forgotten as the life of the island awoke. Sokka awoke with a scream, as a turtle-monkey tried to taste his toe. His scream woke the rest of them. Zuko was up to his feet and pulled Sokka's boomerang out of the other boy's hands, for the water-tribe boy was aiming at the turtle-monkey with it. "Hey, what are you doing?" Sokka complained at once "It tried to eat me!" "Turtle-monkeys don't eat humans…" Zuko sighed "And it's not eatable, so no need to kill it…" Sokka snatched his boomerang back from him. "It bit me." He insisted. "Then it most likely thought you are a nut." Katara suggested. Sokka looked daggers upon her.


	7. ad 5: Strom

Azula and her friends had left Ba Sing Se as soon as they had spotted the Bison, but not without causing Fires wherever they could without being detected. It had not been so easy to find a ship. Once they had found one, forcing the captain to bring them home was easy. But the ride home was long and quite unpleasing. Azula had no good news for her father. Despite she was pretty sure Zuko was dead by now, the Avatar was still alive, and her cousin and uncle were still alive and most likely had joined team Avatar, after what had happened to Zuko. And into the bargain they were hit by a storm some days before their arrival. Therefor she was in a very bad mood as they bumped into a search-party two days after the storm. The leader of that party informed them that general Iroh had been seen on a fire-navy ship heading for the Homeland-havens, but the ship had disappeared since the storm.

Azula didn't know what to make about that. If Iroh had headed home on a ship, then maybe he had had team Avatar with him. That would mean the Avatar saw himself in the position to face the Firelord. But their ship disappearing… could mean that they sunk… but it also could mean that they went into hiding. And the latter option Azula really didn't like. It meant that Iroh planned something… Something to overthrow her father, regaining the throne, and that meant for her that she wouldn't become Firelord as he had promised her since the day her mother had disappeared. It meant that most likely Lu Ten would become Firelord. Not her. But she deserved it, didn't she? What had Lu Ten done to deserve being Firelord? Hiding in Ba Sing Se was not an accomplishment! The only one who deserved the throne was her. Because she had done everything her father had asked of her. She had obeyed all his demands. And for that he had promised her the throne.

"Where were they last seen?" she turned to the leader of the search-party. "They were expected to arrive at the havens this morning…" was the answer "As they didn't arrive, messenger-hawks were sent to ask us to look for them. But they have vanished. Not even the storm could have dragged them so far out. And we have searched everywhere." "Well, obviously you haven't." Azula answered "Now get off my ship, I have to talk to my father as soon as possible." The man bowed and left the ship in a hurry. So her reputation had not faded during her absence. Good. They should fear her. She watched with a smile as her ship took speed again and left the pity search-party behind them.


	8. ad 5: Ozai (WARNING! Incest metioned!)

Firelord Ozai was not happy hearing about the reappearance of his brother. Not at all. He had thought him dead, even more so as Zuko had reappeared without Prince-General Iroh. Now Iroh was on his way back home and Ozai was sure it would mean trouble. His brother had always been trouble. Like Ursa, his wife. Their marriage had only been because of the prophecies. His father had wanted them to become true, to use the strongest bender ever born in the war. But their first child had turned out to be a disappointment and the second child, though a very strong and powerful bender had not managed to impress her grandfather enough to use her.

It all had been fine for a while. Even with his firstborn a failure and his father ignorant to his daughter's uses, Ozai had coped with the life that was chosen for him at Ursa's side, patiently waiting for his chance to prove himself to his father. But when the time came, Azulon had decided to only send Iroh and his son into the war against Ba Sing Se. Not him. He had been supposed to stay back and continue his family-life with a wife who wouldn't love him, a son who was incompetent in everything he touched and a daughter who had been supposed to bring him fame and credit, but was ignored.

Ozai had turned frustrated, and the only thing that had been able to cheer him up was his daughter, who continued to grow stronger and stronger in her bending. Somehow his feelings to her had grown stronger whenever she had shown him a new move she had learned, and some days after his brother had left for war, Ozai had found himself attracted to his second child. Ursa hadn't had shared his bed in years, but she had had a very close eye on both children. So Ozai had known he had to distract her somehow, if he wanted to get closer to Azula.

It was then that he finally had found a use for his first born. A letter from Ursa, supposed to go to her former boyfriend had helped his cause. So he had turned his anger and frustration against his son, causing Ursa to focus her attention on Zuko. Azula had finally been left to him. Of course, Ursa had noticed the changes in her daughter, but she never had guessed what really was going on. At first, Ozai had only showered his daughter in presents, praises and affection. Once that had turned her fully to him and against her mother, who would care more for Zuko and less for her, he had started to have secrets with her. He had promised her to become Firelord one day, if she would be nice to him, and of course she had wanted to be nice to her daddy. It had started with him asking for kisses, hugs, sitting on his lap and had increased slowly over the time.

Once the message of Lu Ten's death had reached them, Ozai knew he had to act. Iroh had decided to return home, and Azulon had still not shown any interest in changing the situation. Ozai had tried to talk reason to his father, but had been denied and ordered to kill his son as a punishment for treason. For some reason, Ursa had found out about his plan and had come to stop him. Her offering to save her son had been even better for his plan. Not only would he get rid of his father, but also of Ursa. And he would become Firelord. Ozai had thought about letting Ursa take Zuko with her, but had decided against it, since he had seen some uses in the boy, especially because of his plans with Azula. It turned out he had been right. And he had been able to also use Zuko to get rid of Iroh as well, after some time.

But now Iroh was going to return to the home-land, and Zuko was still out there somewhere. Ozai sighed deeply and let the flames around his throne flicker up to the ceiling. He missed his daughter. Maybe he shouldn't have sent her after Zuko. But someone had to go to take care of his son, and he had no other he would trust with that issue. Azula hated Zuko, fearing that he might take her place as Firelord, exactly as Ozai had planned. It bound her to him, wanting to be close to him, to make sure, Zuko can't come in between. Not that Ozai would ever let that happen, but it was useful that Azula thought it could happen. What Ozai was worried about more was his brother. Iroh could turn all his plans around and ruin his way to victory. Again Ozai sighed and tried to think about something to get rid about his brother, without anyone suspecting him. Now he regretted not watching Ursa creating the poison she had killed his father with…


	9. ad 5: Returning Home

As Azula entered the palace, she had decided not to mention Lu Ten. Who knew if it really was her supposed-to-be-dead cousin? Iroh returning home was bad news enough. And she wasn't so sure how her father would react about Zuko's death. The Avatar still on the run surely wouldn't make him jump with joy. She had failed, and she knew it. He would be disappointed. But she had to face him. There was no choice. And he would forgive her. He loved her. She was his only heir now. He couldn't banish her. He needed her. Not like Zuko and her mother. They had been useless. But she was important. He needed her to win the war. Breathing in deeply she stepped into the throne-room.


	10. ad 5: Plans

Ozai was surprised to see his daughter again, so soon after his brother's ship had disappeared in the recent storm. Her expression, a mix of stubborn pride and shame, let him knew she had some bad news for him. "Firelord." She addressed him, bowing before him in usual manner "I return to tell you that my brother, Prince Zuko, has perished." Zuko dead? Well, he had heard that once before, and it hadn't been true. "Have you seen him die?" he asked sceptically. "Uh… no…" she stammered irritated "But…" "We thought him dead before." Ozai interrupted her "How can you be sure?" "I am not." Azula answered, trying to sound strong, but obviously was insecure about his reaction to her announcement "But he was badly wounded in a fight. I doubt he could survive, being on the run…"

"Fine… Let's assume you are right…" Ozai shrugged "What about the Avatar?" "I…" Azula gulped heavily "I am not sure…" she got out "I fear he might have escaped and is hiding somewhere. I lost his track." "We will find him again." Ozai answered "Now I need you to find my brother Iroh. I doubt his ship had sunk. We thought so before, and he had turned up again. I fear he might have used the same trick to escape our eyes again. You need to find him. He might want to reclaim the throne." Azula nodded hastily. "Yes, father. I will try." "Search the islands." Ozai ordered "Be aware that he knows the land and will use his knowledge to disappear. There is an eclipse coming up, and he might use it against us, as might the Avatar. I will arrange everything here, to make sure we are safe." "Yes, father." Azula answered.


	11. Chapter 6

"We need to go to the main-land." Iroh told them, once they had managed to get a camp ready. "They will soon start to search the islands. But we must not be detected. So going by Appa is not an option, if the weather stays clear." "Then how do we do it?" Sokka asked "It's not like we can walk there…" "And our ship is gone too…" Aang pointed out "My glider cannot carry as many people, and I don't know how far it is…" "They will spot a glider too…" Iroh explained "No, we have to find another way. If we are lucky, we will have cloudy weather by tomorrow, but if not…" "Maybe Toph can make a tunnel underneath the ocean…" Sokka suggested "Or Katara and Aang can bend the water around us, as we walk underwater…" "It's one to two days by ship to the haven." Iroh sighed "We should aim to the outskirts and we would be on foot. It would take weeks… I doubt your friends can keep up bending for so long."

"But they can help change the weather to our liking…" Zuko put in "Katara and Aang can create clouds with their bending. When we go by night, no one will notice when Appa gets into the air, and we will be disguised by the clouds. We can go down in some wooded area, or something like that…" "That's actually a plan… Are you up to that?" Iroh turned to Aang and Katara. The two benders exchanged a look and then nodded. "Good, then let us rest some more and we will leave at dawn." Iroh decided "The sooner we leave the better."


	12. Chapter 7

As the sun set and the shadows grew to their longest, they broke up camp and packed their stuff on Appa. It was now the evening of the first day after the storm. They didn't know that they hadn't been even declared missing by now. Would they have waited some more, they would have been detected by the search-party, Azula encountered a day later. Luckily Toph had made sure that their camp would not be recognized as such. So the search-party wouldn't even find traces of their survival. They refilled their water bottles to make sure they had enough water to keep up their disguise, once they reached the main-land.

Again they had to split up and fly in turns. This time Aang and Katara would stay on Appa and fly the rounds. It took them half the night until all of them were back together. They had landed on a bigger island in the east, closer to the main-land. From there on they could move from bigger island to bigger island until they would reach their destination. The island only contained small villages and a rough surface with a lot of cliffs and waterfalls. The people living there weren't as informed about the war and the propaganda common on the main-land, so they were quite sure to pass unrecognized. Only Aang's arrow could turn out to be a problem.

Aang didn't want to listen to reason, though. He didn't want to hide his heritage, despite they told him it would endanger their mission. Iroh and Hakoda both had to talk to him over an hour, until he finally agreed to wear a hat to cover his bald skull. All of them used the clothes they had from the ship, to disguise themselves as Firenation-citizens and got rid of everything that would reveal their true identity. It wasn't easy for most of them. But since they had not much to survive on their own, they needed to enter a village to find shelter and food.


End file.
